The man was adamant that she should give him a chance, refusing to give up despite her numerous requests for him to leave her alone.

Speaking to UNILAD, Julia explained how she used to have her Instagram account connected to her Tinder so that people would know she wasn’t a catfish; this is how the man found her.

She described how the man initially messaged her saying he had seen her on Tinder and that he wanted to take her out. When she responded asking if they had matched, he replied saying only, ‘sometimes life isn’t a straight path’ and that he wanted to meet her regardless.

The 20-year-old told him she wasn’t interested, explaining her reservations to us:

His Instagram account was private and his ‘profile photo’ was not him so I had no idea who this person was. So why would I say yes to a date with a man with no face, no name and no age?

@gothhunny/Twitter

Despite her clearly telling him she wasn’t interested, the man didn’t stop and instead wanted to know why she was on Tinder in the first place if she didn’t want to meet new people.

Julia told UNILAD:

I wanted to just make it clear I wasn’t interested and have him accept that and leave me alone because he could easily just make another account if he didn’t finish what he had to say.

He continued to attack her though, stating ‘you have no reason to say no, you are ON A DATING SITE,’ and telling her she has issues, asking ‘why are you even alive? What’s the point if you’re just going to spread misery and negativity?’

In the end, the 20-year-old had to block the unknown man and report him on Instagram because of his persistent messages. Thankfully, he hasn’t messaged her since and won’t be able to.

To be honest, if I was in the same situation I’m not sure I could have stayed as calm and collected as Julia did.

Lucy Connolly

A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).